Cadernos de História da Educação, v.19, n.3, p.686-706, set./dez.. 2020 ISSN: 1982-7806 (On Line) https://doi.org/10.14393/che-v19n3-2020-2 PAPERS Brazilian Journal of Physical Education: Modern Swedish Gymnastics in Brazil (1944-1952) 1 Revista Brasileira de Educação Física: a Moderna Ginástica Sueca no Brasil (1944-1952) Revista brasileña de educación física: la moderna gimnasia sueca en Brasil (1944-1952) Anderson Cunha Baía Universidade Federal de Viçosa (Brasil) http://lattes.cnpq.br/4790819454267242 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7363-689X [email protected]Andrea Moreno Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Brasil) http://lattes.cnpq.br/4983945900663400 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3371-0282 [email protected]Abstract This study aimed to analyze the circulation of the “Modern Swedish Gymnastics” in the Brazilian Journal of Physical Education, during the period of its existence, 1944-1952. The Swedish gymnastics, created by Pehr Henrik Ling in the early nineteenth century, underwent a reconfiguration in Europe constituting a “Modern Swedish Gymnastics”, which circulated in Brazil. The Brazilian Journal of Physical Education was a communication means through which different subjects dedicated to the teaching of gymnastics pointed to a form of gymnastics that opposed Ling's rigid and monotonous gymnastics. Therefore, a new way to educate the body was possible in Brazil, at a time when Brazilian physical education was discussing about an appropriate method for the field. Keywords: Physical Education. Modern Swedish Gymnastics. Brazilian Journal of Physical Education. 1 English version by Cyntia Sonetti Valim de Oliveira. E-mail: [email protected]
Transcript
Cadernos de História da Educação, v.19, n.3, p.686-706, set./dez.. 2020 ISSN: 1982-7806 (On Line)
Rodríguez Giménez (2011); Sarremejane (2006); Scharagrodsky et al (2011). 3 According to Pereira (s.d.), Nachtegall already trained teachers to work with gymnastics, either at school
or in the army. 4 Ling's other relationships in Copenhague have possibly contributed to his choices and investment. Leonard
(1923) reports on Ling's contact with different subjects during his stay in Copenhagen, both in the field of literature
- an area of interest and striking in his career - as well as his investment in gymnastics and fencing. 5 According to Pereira (s.d.), Ling was inspired by Guts-Muths, Vieth and Pestalozzi gymnastics, Schelling's
philosophical orientation and Rousseau and Locke's pedagogical orientation. Much of this inspiration is due to the
contact with Nachtegall, who was guided by these bases. 6 This work was started in 1834 and published after Ling's death in 1840. In Portuguese, this work has been
translated as “Princípios gerais de ginástica”, "Manual de ginástica " or "Base geral para ginástica", as we can
observe in Moreno (2015). 7 According to Leonard (1923), Ling continued to teach fencing at the Karlberg Military Academy until 1825,
and in 1821 he also acted as an instructor in gymnastics and fencing at the School of Artillery in Marieberg. 8 We translated Stockholm Central Institute of Gymnastics (GCI) to Portuguese in the original article. For some
time, the Institute was called Royal Gymnastics Central Institute. Throughout the text, we refer to the Institute
using the acronym GCI, as it is known worldwide.
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in different ways and in different spaces9; Swedes who came here to work with gymnastics10;
translated works that arrived in the country11; work produced in Brazil but inspired by the
Swedish method12; in addition to newspapers, magazines and journals specialized in physical
education, which put Swedish gymnastics into circulation13.
The field of Physical Education was being consolidated with the contribution of a
set of specialized journals that emerged in the 1930s, namely: Revista Educação Física
(1932-1960), Revista Educação Physica (1932-1945), Boletim de Educação Física (1941-
1958), Revista Brasileira de Educação Física (1944-1952) and Arquivos da Escola Nacional
de Educação Física e Desportos (1945-1966) (FERREIRA NETO, 2005). For the author,
the RBEF was a privileged place where diverse knowledge about body practices, including
Swedish gymnastics, circulated, instigated the debate, found resistance, shaped ways of
being and thinking body education through body practices, contributing to the constitution
of Physical Education in this period14.
As a research topic, journals in Brazil have been widely questioned. However, if the
journals have already been problematized in the context of research in the History of Education
and Physical Education15, the same cannot be reported in relation to Swedish gymnastics16, nor
in studies that take RBEF as a source17. How was the process of organization of Swedish
gymnastics, between the early nineteenth and the mid-twentieth century, in Europe, which
enabled the emergence of Modern Swedish Gymnastics? How did this Modern Swedish
Gymnastics appear in RBEF and contribute to the configuration of the Physical Education field?
Guided by these questions, we propose, in this study, to understand how the Modern Swedish
Gymnastics was disseminated in Brazil through the Brazilian Journal of Physical Education,
contributing to a debate about the constitution of Physical Education in the period 1944-195218.
To do so, we used the 82 issues of the RBEF, representing all journals published
from 1944 to 1952. Inspired by Certeau (2006, p.81), for whom in history everything starts
with the gesture of separating, assembling and transforming in documents some objects
9 Rui Barbosa defends Swedish gymnastics in his opinion (1947); Fernando de Azevedo (1920), Inezil Penna
Marinho (1958) and Jair Jordão Ramos (1952,1982) in their writings. 10 The study by Moreno and Baia (2019) shows the presence of Swedes Fritjof Detthow, Mme. Will, Mme.
Ester Leo, Sven Kellander, Artur Linderdahl, Mme. Maria Grushka and Curt Johansson, who somehow had their
performance related to Swedish gymnastics, whether teaching courses, writing in newspapers and working in a
school, or working with the medical dimension of Swedish gymnastics. 11 Baía, Bonifácio and Moreno (2017a). 12 Avelar (2018). 13 To cite some newspapers: Folha da Manhã (SP), Jornal do Commercio (RJ), Jornal do Recife, O Commercio
de São Paulo, O Estado de São Paulo, Revista Educação (São Paulo). With regard to specialized journals, we cite:
Revista Educação Physica (1932-1945), Revista de Educação Física (1932-today) and RBEF (1944-1952). 14 The definition of RBEF as a privileged source of this study was based on the number of articles on Swedish
gymnastics raised in a previous analysis. It far surpassed the number of articles on Swedish gymnastics in other
specialized journals, which caught our attention. Because the RBEF, among the specialized journals, was the main
vehicle for the circulation of Swedish gymnastics in the country. 15 In the field of Physical Education History, we can mention: Góis Júnior and Mattos (2016); Moraes and Góis
Júnior (2015); Góis Júnior (2013); Bruschi and Schneider (2019); Assunção et al (2014); Ferreira Neto et al (2014);
Schneider et al (2013); Schneider (2004); Berto, Schneider and Ferreira Neto (2007); Moraes and Fontoura (2011).
There are other searches that could enter this list - a task that would require more care and a specific study. But
this task is beyond the scope of this text. 16 Just to cite some of them: Moreno (2001, 2015); Soares and Moreno (2015); Romão and Moreno (2018);
Baía, Bonifácio and Moreno (2017a; 2017b); and Avelar (2018). 17 The work of Moraes and Fontoura (2011) is one of the rare studies that take RBEF as its main source. Other
studies, such as Retz et al (2019), Ferreira Neto et al (2014), Cassani (2018), take it in the set of other journals.
Even considering these last studies, there are still few dedicated to the analysis of this journal, which contributed
significantly to the circulation of knowledge about the Physical Education field. 18 The period delimitation of the study coincides with the life of the journal. More information about it will be
brought along the text.
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distributed otherwise, we accessed the RBEF samples at the Library of the Faculty of
Education of the University of Campinas and the Institute of Education and Physical
Education - PROTEORIA - located at the Center for Physical Education and Sports at the
Federal University of Espírito Santo.
The documentary corpus consisted of RBEF articles that addressed Swedish
Gymnastics and/or Modern Swedish Gymnastics19. The exploration of the sources allowed us
to realize that this Modern Swedish Gymnastics circulated with intensity in this journal during
the period analyzed, making it possible, with the comparison with the literature, to understand
it as part of a reconfiguration movement that affected Swedish Gymnastics in Europe,
circulating around different places, including Brazil.
1. From Ling’s Gymnastics to the Modern Swedish Gymnastics
The Swedish gymnastics created by Ling in the early nineteenth century underwent
transformations along its trajectory. At the Institute created with his contribution, in which he
was director from 1813 to 1839, he took up the work alone until 1818, when he receives the
physician Gabriel Branting, who had been his student in the first class at the GCI and his
assistant at the Karlberg Military Academy20 (PEREIRA, S.d.; LEONARD, 1923).
In 1929 the Institute welcomes Carl August Georgii21, who, together with P. J.
Liedbeck22 were responsible for completing Ling's already cited work, entitled Gymnastikens
allmänna grunder23, which organizes Ling's experiences in his career with Swedish gymnastics.
In addition to this work, the son of the creator, Hjälmar Fredrik Ling, starts to work at
the Institute, in 1843. His contribution to the systematization of his father's work by grouping
the movements into “schema”, “Lesson”, was essential to disseminate Swedish gymnastics in
different regions of the world (LANGLADE and LANGLADE, 1970; PEREIRA, S.D.)24.
These three subjects - Branting, Georgii and Hjälmar - more than reproducing the
knowledge of the creator, acted for the improvement in his method. The followers task was not
smooth - Ling did not leave many writings on gymnastics to assist in the continuation of his
work (LINDROTH, 1979). The strong philosophical mark in his above-mentioned major work
makes it difficult to understand. Therefore, much of what is attributed to Ling has the mediation
and mark of the experiences that Branting and Georgii established with the precursor, a result
of decades working together in the same institution.
19 In the beginning of the research, we accessed the titles of the reports of some of the main specialized journals
that emerged in the 1930s, namely: Revista Educação Física (1932-1960), Revista Educação Physica (1932-1945)
and Revista Brasileira de Educação Física (1944-1952), through the Catalog of Physical Education and Sport
Journals (Ferreira Neto, Schneider, Aroeira, Bosi, Santos, 2002). At this point, we identified that the Brazilian
Journal of Physical Education has enabled an intense circulation of articles on Swedish gymnastics, being
quantitatively much superior to the articles on this subject in other journals, becoming, for this reason, the main
criterion of selection of the Brazilian Journal of Physical Education for this study. 20 He served at the Karlberg Military Academy between 1813 and 1825 (LEONARD, 1923). 21 Born in 1808, he was one of Ling's disciples. He published Ling's work in France and England, dying in
1881 (PEREIRA, S.D.). 22 Born in 1802, he was Ling's son-in-law and taught anatomy at the Stockholm Gymnastics Institute. He died
in 1876 (PEREIRA, S.D.). 23 It presents the following division: 1) The Laws of the Human Organism; 2) Pedagogical Gymnastics.
Foundations; 3) Military Gymnastics. Foundations; 4) Medical Gymnastics. Foundations; 5) Aesthetic
Gymnastics. Foundations; 6) The Gymnastics Vehicles. However, during Ling's activity period, the medical
gymnastics was the one that most attracted his attention (PEREIRA, S.D.). 24 Scheme, for Hjälmar Ling, was defined as the relationship of families, groups, and subgroups of exercises,
according to the order that should be used, for the correct development of a lesson, contemplating the requirement
of the complete activity and an adjustment to the principles of continuity, progression, variety and alternation
(LANGLADE e LANGLADE, 1970, p. 370).
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Shortly before his death, Ling declared that he trusted Branting and Georgii in the
continuation of his work, which was possibly built along the years of coexistence in the daily
work at the Institute (PEREIRA, S.D.). Therefore, analyzing this first moment of Swedish
gymnastics, represented by the performance of these subjects, there was some alignment in the
preparation to teach the Swedish gymnastics25 and in the development of Ling's method,
following the principles of its creator. To broaden the understanding of those responsible for
continuing the work started by Ling, we rely on the subdivision of Swedish gymnastics
presented by Langlade and Langlade (1970):
Figure 1 - Organization of Swedish Gymnastics according to Langlade and Langlade (1970)
Source: Langlade and Langlade (1970, pp. 368 and 163)
From 1800 to 1900, P.H. Ling and his successors constitute a gymnastics classified as
“Old Swedish Gymnastics”. During this period, two groups contributed: the Orthodox, aligned
with Branting, Georgii and Hjälmar, who sought to maintain Ling's base as principles that
guided the formation and development of the method; and the heterodox, who, supported by a
similar justification, proposed the development of the method based on different influences.
The Orthodox group was formed by: Lars Mauritz Törngren, Hjälmar Ling's successor
in working with pedagogical gymnastics at the Institute, working with her from 1883 to 1909,
being also a director in the period 1887-1907; Carl Silow, who contributed to Törngren in
pedagogical gymnastics, from 1883 to 1909; and Carl Anders Henrik Norlander, who was a
25 According to Pereira (s.d.), there were three different training courses offered in three years: in a first year,
he trained instructors, preparing them to work in the army and elementary school grades. The second year
constituted the teacher training course, preparing them to work in the Lyceums. The third year represented the
medical gymnastics course, qualifying the student as a director of gymnastics, or as stated by Posse (1891), a
gymnast doctor. The student would learn for one, two or three years, depending on the desired education. The
knowledge that was part of these formations can be consulted in Moreno and Baía (2019).
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professor at the University and Normal School in Lund and greatly contributed to pedagogical
gymnastics, especially with his written works on the subject26.
Among the heterodox, we can cite: Viktor Gustav Balck, who worked with military
gymnastics from 1883 to 1909, becoming GCI director from 1907 to 1909; Gustav Nyblaeus,
a student of P. H. Ling, was a director from 1862 to 1887 and worked with military gymnastics
from 1838 to 1887 and was a supporter of the sports movement in Sweden, considering this
sport as essential and complementary to gymnastics; and Anton B. Santesson, who, together
with Nyblaeus, were the first critics of the gymnastics organized by Hjälmar Ling, claiming
that it was moving away from the ideas of the founder of the Swedish gymnastics method27.
It is possible to infer that these disputes that marked the late nineteenth century -
Orthodox vs. Hetorodox - represented more than a defense of development forms of Ling's
Swedish gymnastics. It also meant a power struggle and the pursuit of hegemony in the
constitution of gymnastics. The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Europe are
characterized as a time and place where different proposals for body education emerge, with
various proposals for gymnastic methods (SARREMEJANE, 2006).
If we consider those involved with Swedish gymnastics in the late nineteenth century
compared with those of the first half of the same century, the number of subjects dedicated to
the formation and development of this gymnastics increases considerably. That “matrix”
Swedish gymnastics, characterized by the effective presence of P. H. Ling in its organization
and development, continued by those who lived with him and defended it, such as Branting,
Georgii and Hjälmar Ling, began to be reorganized in the late nineteenth century28, giving rise
to a renovating movement. This renovating movement of Swedish gymnastics, which began
after 1900, is called “Neo-Swedish Gymnastics” by Langlade and Langlade (1970).
The “Neo-Swedish” gymnastics presents as its central characteristic the contributions
of different subjects, who start from a common formation in Lingian gymnastics, many of them
trained in the GCI itself. The difference is that, beyond Ling's Swedish-based training in
gymnastics, the renovators absorbed information from external influences, resulting from the
scientific innovations that underpinned the gymnastic methods and the various gymnastic
currents that emerged in the late 19th century and early twentieth century, such as George
Hébert's natural method, indicated by Langlade and Langlade (1970) as one of the influencers.
Central to this Swedish gymnastics renovating movement are: Elin Falk, Elli Björksten, Maja
Carlquist, Niels Bukh, Johannes Lindhard, and Josef Gittfrid Thulin (LANGLADE and
LANGLADE, 1970; PEREIRA, S.D.).
Until the late thirties of the twentieth century, all these subjects who contributed to the
technical-pedagogical and scientific field, based on their experiences and interventions,
dialogued from the Lingian Swedish gymnastics current, giving rise to this new gymnastics
expression, the “Neo-swedish”. According to Holmströn, General Secretary of the Swedish
Gymnastics Federation, organizer of the 1939 and 1949 Lingiads29, this gymnastics marked as
“Neo-Swedish” by Langlade and Langlade (1970), was called “Modern Swedish
26 Cf: Pereira (s.d., p. 435). 27 About Nyblaeus, cf: Pereira (s.d., p. 403). 28 Lindroth (1979) states that the GCI was reorganized in 1864, when a new set of statutes was issued. This
reorganization divided Swedish gymnastics training into three small departments - pedagogical, military, and
medical gymnastics - each directed by a head teacher. With the new organization, demarcations between Ling's
main gym sectors became even clearer. While this organization could contribute to a better balance of interests
and resources, it also tended to stimulate rivalry between its departments. 29 The Lingiad was an international event to demonstrate and debate the cultural practices representing Physical
Education in different countries. We will cover it in more detail throughout this paper.
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Gymnastics”30. In their book titled The Modern Swedish Gymnastics, these subjects reappear
as key players in the Swedish gymnastics development process:
La gimnasia há modificado también sus métodos de trabajo. Esto es
muy certo, especialmente en lo que se refiere a la gimnasia pedagógica
escolar y a la gimnasia voluntaria. Bajo la influencia de pedagogos
prominentes adictos a la gimnasia de Ling en los distinos países
escandinavos – Elin Falk y el comandante J. G. Thulin en Suecia, Elli
Björkstén en Finlandia y Niels Bukh en Dinamarca – se han
modificado, desarrollado y enriquecido las formas de trabajo
gimnásticas, em tal grado que ahora es posible variar la gimnasia según
el sexo, la edad y las condiciones físicas de los gimnastas. La gimnasia
infantil, la gimnasia para mujeres y la gimnasia para hombres se han
desarrollado de distinta manera, adaptándose a las distintas tareas
educativas que ahora se quieren llevar a cabo mediante distintas formas
de gimnasia, así como de los métodos de trabajo gimnásticos.
(HOLMSTRÖN, 1949, p. 42-43)
Their investments were based on the “Old Swedish Gymnastics” and represented a break
with the orthodoxy and closed-mindedness of Ling's gymnastics. The peak of this Modern Swedish
Gymnastics is marked by I Lingiad in 1939 (LANGLADE e LANGLADE, 1970, p. 249).
In the post-1939 period, two events are striking: the first and the second Lingiads,
respectively in the years 1939 and 1949. According to Langlade and Langlade (1970), the first
was a worldwide opportunity for the expansion of knowledge and the diffusion of schools,
systems, methods or lines of work, starting a time of reciprocal influences and universalization
of gymnastic conceptions. The second Lingiad represents the objective demonstration of the
reciprocal influences of gymnastics schools, systems, methods, or lines.
For Langlade and Langlade (1970), the old Lingian trunk that for more than 130 years
influenced every world manifestation of gymnastics, exporting theory, techniques and
methodological procedures, became, after the 1940s, a gymnastics more open to receive
external influences. These influences come from “modern gymnastics”31, “international
gymnastics”, “Austrian natural gymnastics” and “jazz gymnastics” and found in the Lingiads,
especially in the second one, a space for exchange32.
For Agne Holmström, the Swedish gymnastics of the late nineteenth century was
petrified, especially due to excessively military influence. In the place of joy, excitement and
30 We are assuming the name Modern Swedish Gymnastics in this study because this is how it is mentioned in
the articles found in RBEF. 31 When we refer to “modern gymnastics” from Langlade and Langlade (1970), we understand it
originating from Germany, characterizing a movement, initially focused on female gymnas tics, inspired by
the field of theater, music and dance. The variations international, Austrian natural and jazz gymnastics are
also found in the same work. 32 For Langlade and Langlade (1970), among these influences, coming from different gymnastics beliefs, the
following stand out: a) The organization of the Swedish gymnastics class in the form of “scheme” and “lesson”
continued until 1939, when it began to be possible to set up a Swedish gymnastics section based on the work of a
theme or circuit work; (b) the use of different handicrafts, with the predominance of ropes, balls of different sizes,
hoops and tambourines; c) The use of music in command, preferably, but open to accompaniment through recorded
music; d) Organization of exercises in the space, abandoning the idea of gymnastics "in place", guiding the
movement of the performers on the available work surface; e) Creation of movements, which was more effectively
concentrated with children, abandoning the idea of an imaginary-imitative gymnastics for the creative-
imagination; f) Possibility of organizing the gymnastics section in stations that used different materials, creating a
rotation, in which the groups move with a certain frequency; g) Opening space for individual, free, spontaneous
play of children, reducing the stiffness and unique direction of the teacher conducting all the session.
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originality that must constitute the “true gymnastics”, in the 1900s there was a gymnastics of
stereotypical positions, which suppressed joy, contributing to its characterization as “the sad
Swedish gymnastics” (RBEF). No. 46, Jan. 1948, pp. 39-43). This was the central point that led
to a change in thinking and practicing Swedish gymnastics.
The different influences that Ling's gymnastics went through since its inception intensified
in the early years of the twentieth century, shaping a Modern Swedish Gymnastics. This new
gymnastics has circled since then. RBEF was a vehicle that contributed to the circulation of Modern
Swedish Gymnastics. The second Lingiad had a very relevant space in the journal33.
2. The Modern Swedish Gymnastics in the Brazilian Journal of Physical Education
In the Brazilian historiography, intellectuals encouraged Swedish gymnastics in the
formation of bodies in the school. Since the opinion of Rui Barbosa in 1882, Swedish
gymnastics was indicated for the training of students in this space (MARINHO, S / D). Still in
the nineteenth century, when the Modern Swedish Gymnastics was not in vogue, Rui Barbosa
defended the “Old Swedish Gymnastics” in the Brazilian schools.
Fernando de Azevedo was another Brazilian intellectual who defended the presence of
Swedish gymnastics in the education of students in the country:
This method, undoubtedly the best from the pedagogical viewpoint, is
called to supply, in the education system, a serious gap that, before the
nineteenth century, was left open by governments and individuals, and
that, in some countries, has not been filled yet due to unforgivable passivity
in view of the prejudice already too rooted. (AZEVEDO, 1920, p. 118)
He criticizes the kind of Swedish method that is effective in a large number of schools
in the country, stressing that “they are but a fairly happy genre of Swedish gymnastics, that is,
a kind of direct application of the Ling method.”(AZEVEDO, 1920, p. 119)34. He defends the
educational gymnastics of the Lingian matrix, disseminated by Lefebure35, a method “molded
on the rational principles established by the Swedish genius” (AZEVEDO, 1920, p. 119). The
defense of pedagogical gymnastics already shows us the link of Fernando de Azevedo with the
moment of action of Hjälmar Ling, responsible for developing this striking dimension of the
Swedish method in the mid-nineteenth century. This pedagogical dimension of the method
found advocates and disseminators not only in Lefebure, but in the French Lagrange, Tissié and
Coste, pointed out by the Brazilian in his work as knowledgeable of the principles governing
the Swedish method and based on whom to present the characteristics of the Swedish method:
no need for braces, emphasis on breathing, among others. Through Fernando de Azevedo's
choice of pedagogical gymnastics, developed by Hjälmar Ling, and for the support from
striking Swedish gymnastics advocates of the late 19th century, we can suspect that Fernando
de Azevedo, in 1920, was not impacted by the reconfiguration of Swedish gymnastics that had
33 We found 43 articles that directly addressed Swedish Gymnastics in the Brazilian Journal of Physical
Education during the period of its existence. Among these, 22 articles dealt with the Lingiads. 34 Quitzau, Moreno and Baia (2019), urges caution when dealing with gymnastic methods. The different
methods – German, Swedish, French, etc, written by the different authors, although sharing exercises and some
purposes, each of these authors focused on the study of the human gesture from a different perspective, and this,
in different levels, is reflected in their writings and ideas, in how they select what would be appropriate or not to
their methods. So the successors of Ling's method probably did something else of that matrix cell. Different
Swedish methods were being reconfigured and circulated in different regions of the world, including Brazil. 35 Born in 1861, he was a member of the Belgian army, sent to Sweden to study Ling's method in the late 19th
century. He was one of the important disseminators of Swedish gymnastics. He died in 1928. (PEREIRA, S.D.)
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been in progress since the late nineteenth century, led by Elin Falk, Elli Björksten, Maja
Carlquist, Niels Bukh, among others.
But Azevedo was already open to receiving an idea of a reconfiguration of the method
when he states that “it would not be rational to reject the resources with which experiments in
physiology could improve Ling's gymnastics.” He is in favor of the reforms of Ling's method,
“for its ever more perfect adaptation to the purpose it is admirably intended for as educational
physiological gymnastics” (AZEVEDO, 1920, p. 124).
This adaptation even appears in RBEF articles and is recurrently addressed, especially
by supporters of Modern Swedish Gymnastics, especially Agne Holmström, as Ling's wish.
The basis of this argument is taken from the presentation of Ling's gymnastics base book
entitled Gymnastikens allmänna grunder, in which the Swede states that: “I hope that future
Doctors and Educators will continue this work by broadening and deepening the notions
contained herein” (LING, 1834-1840, s/p.). The adaptability discourse will allow us to shape
another gymnastics, The Modern Swedish Gymnastics, designed for new times, new spaces,
with new didactic organization.
Yet in Inezil Penna Marinho, in the early 1950s, Swedish gymnastics appears divided into
“Old Swedish Gymnastics”, marked by the works of Ling and its 19th century successors, and
“Modern Swedish Gymnastics”, marked by the presence of central figures in its reconfiguration,
such as Elin Falk, Elli Björksten, Niels Bukh, Johannes Lindhard and Major Thulin.
In the 1950s Inezil had already been in contact with the Swedish Modern Gymnastics
several times in the context of RBEF. The first article on Swedish gymnastics at RBEF is
entitled The Swedish System based on the Gymnastics of Ling, Adapted to the Female Sex in
Argentina, written by Magdalena E. B. de Mayne, representative of the Argentine National
Institute of Physical Education, and translated by Eunice Galvão Antunes36. The article is in
issue number 02, in February 1944 and in its first words, we can see the adaptability of Ling's
method: “One of the basic principles of gymnastics states that it must be adapted to the age,
development and gender of the student”. According to the author, “no one will ever intend to
deploy the system that Ling devised in its original form, precisely because that system was
devised at another time and for other people” (RBEF, No. 02, Feb. 1944, p. 39).
This investment in adapting Ling's method to gender and age had been on the horizon
of Ling's successors since the second half of the nineteenth century. According to Pereira (s.d.),
Hjälmar Ling became interested in women's gymnastics in 1860, and in 1878, his sister, Wendla
Dahl Ling published a work intended for instructors. However, the continuation and greater
investment in this movement of thinking about female gymnastics and adaptation to age,
according to Langlade and Langlade (1970), had the contribution and protagonism of teachers
Elli Björksten and Elin Falk, already in the transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth
century, extending to the first decades of this. Elli Björksten, for example, completed her studies
at the Institute in the late nineteenth century:
Durante mis estudios en el Instituto Central de Gimnasia de Estocolmo
– 1893 a 1895 o encontré que los principios sobre los cuales P. H. Ling
trazó sus ideas relacionadas con la educación física, eran geniales y de
indiscutible valor. Pero vi igualmente que el sistema desarrollado por
sus continuadores dejaba mucho que desear desde el punto de vista
pedagógico, al menos en lo que se relacionaba con la mujer y con el
niño. Los sucessores de Ling, a mi juicio, mataban el espíritu del
36 Eunice Galvão Antunes, in 1943, was removed from the position of full-time typist at the National Directory of
Brazilian Youth to the Physical Education Division (Diário Carioca, edition 4685, year 1943, p. 3). We did not find out
what her position was or the function that she performed in that Sector. The Physical Education Division was the first federal
government agency to specifically organize the actions and directives related to Physical Education (CUNHA, 2017).
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creador de la gimnasia moderna y aprisionaban su sistema en um marco
demasiado estrecho y en formas que de ninguna manera nos atrevemos
a pensar, hubieran satisfecho al gênio y alma fogosa de Pedro Enrique
Ling. (LANGLADE e LANGLADE, 1970, p. 170)
The inaugural investments of the siblings Hjälmar Ling and Wendla Dahl Ling would
not have been sufficient in organizing a gender- and age-adapted gymnastics. Thus, Falk
worked on the organization of a children's gym and Björksten inserted rhythm as a characteristic
part of women's gymnastics. This performance was stamped at RBEF:
new and life-giving incentives for the children's gym reform, thus
creating a new era in the development of Ling's gymnastics. Shortly
thereafter, Finnish Elly Björkstén, who had attended Ling's Central
Gymnastics Institute, devoted efforts to form a special gym for women
according to Ling's principles, especially regarding the importance of
rhythm for the gymnastics. (RBEF, nº 46, Jan. 1948, p. 42.)
Elin Falk and Elly Björkstén's writings were not found on RBEF pages. Their
contributions appear indirectly in some articles, highlighting their leading role in the development
of Swedish gymnastics, as in Agne Holmström's text, La Gimnasia de Ling como base racional
de la moderna Educacion Física (RBEF, No. 46, Jan. 1948; RBEF, No. 61/62, May, 1949). In
this text, another character is added to the ones already mentioned, Major Josef Gottfrid Thulin.
In Brazil, Thulin's works circulate in the RBEF in three articles in the 1950s, numbers
74, 75/76 e 77/7837, all of them with the title The Gymnastics Lesson Scheme. Contrary to what
the title suggests, which would be a practical organization, a scheme of a lesson, there is a
narrative loaded with explanations based on physiology, anatomy:
If muscle work is accompanied by an increase in the volume of blood
expelled from the heart every minute, and if, at the same time, the
resistance to be overcome by blood pressure, remains unchanged, muscle
activity will undoubtedly represent an overload to the heart. This overload
varies depending on the effort and muscle work. It may also vary with
different forms of work. (RBEF, nº 75/76, Jun/jul, 1950, pp. 4-5)
The three reports constantly draw on the “scientific” knowledge, highlighting this
feature of Thulin in working with Swedish gymnastics: “according to the Professor of
Orthopedics, J. Haglund”; based on the “gymnastics physiologist, Prof. Lindhard”; in proposing
rest as essential to the development between sessions, it is anchored in “E. Asmussen” and “E.
Hansen”. Scientific knowledge is the basis of his gymnastics lesson scheme, which is not
translated by a description of a set of exercises to be followed.
For Thulin, the lesson represents the teachings needed to be worked on over a period,
which usually takes 40-45 minutes. In Sweden, they group these teachings under the name of
the “Gymnastics Lesson Scheme”, and “when we talk about Swedish Ling Gymnastics, its use
and distribution, we think of how to organize the scheme with simultaneously built and
functional exercises” (RBEF, No. 74, May 1950, p. 8).
With this basis of thought, he defends the organization of a lesson scheme according to
the characteristic of the public:
37 Of these three articles, I found only the one referring to number 75/76, which indicated that it was the
sequence of No. 74 and which would continue in No. 77/78.
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The daily gymnastics lesson should vary in composition, depending on
whether people lead a hard working life, or a sedentary life, whether
intellectual or bureaucratic. So the daily gymnastics lesson will have to
be different when it comes to people who have to do intense mental
work after the lesson, or people who have nothing to do after it. (RBEF,
nº 77/78, Aug./Sept. 1950, p. 5)
Thulin's way of presenting Swedish gymnastics and knowledge of the teaching method
presupposes an autonomy for the teacher, requiring specific and pedagogical knowledge of
Swedish gymnastics. His contribution to the RBEF in the three sequential articles are not
indications of an exercise group, although it has the structure of a lesson scheme: it begins with
an introduction, in which “animated exercises and games will be adopted.” Then “appears the
most important part of the lesson scheme, which is divided into: Formative Part38 and Applied
Part (Practical Part). After these, the Conclusion, in case it becomes necessary.” Thulin states
that “each teacher will be able to draw up a scheme of his own, considering the different
aspects” (RBEF, No. 77/78, Aug/Sept. 1950, p. 5).
Unlike Thulin's path to teaching Swedish gymnastics, in which he presents a lesson
scheme from questions that must be considered when setting up a gymnastics class, we can find
in RBEF other authors who propose detailed, outlined models, ready for use in class.
Two reports by Curt Johansson are found in December 1949. Johansson, Swedish,
was an important character in the development of Modern Swedish Gymnastics. He
participated in the second Lingiad, in 1949. He received the Brazilian delegation that
attended the event, as representative of the Royal Central Gymnastics Institute of
Stockholm. Shortly thereafter, he was invited to teach a Physical Education course in Brazil
to about 300 secondary school teachers. In 1951, in Santos, he worked at the International
Course in Physical Education, promoted by the Department of Physical Education and
Sports of the State of São Paulo (PUBLIO and CATALANO, 2006). He took advantage of
the visit and was at the School of Physical Education at the University of Brazil, in Rio de
Janeiro, teaching a course for teachers and students. In addition to these exchanges, the
writings of Curt Johansson became recurrent in Brazilian journals, disseminating modern
Swedish gymnastics, as we can see in the RBEF, a few months after the Lingiad, and in
several newspapers of the period (MORENO and BAÍA, 2019).
Curt Johansson's reports on RBEF are characterized as screenplays, organized for use
by gym teachers in their intervention. The first, entitled Gymnastics for men: Swedish
gymnastics lessons, was part of a teacher training course in Sweden:
The three lessons that compose this work were taught by prof. Curt
Johansson, at the International Gymnastics Course, organized by the
Royal Central Institute of Stockholm and translate the most modern
features of Swedish gymnastics. (RBEF, nº 69, Dec. 1949, p. 26)
The Swedish gymnastics lessons were divided in three: Practical Gymnastics Lesson
n.1, Practical Gymnastics Lesson n.2, Practical Gymnastics Lesson n.3. In common, the lessons
described the movements that should be performed: “high jump running by hitting an obstacle”;
“Sense, antero-posterior swing of arms with circumference and jump in the same place”; “Legs
38 The Formative Part refers to “built, mobilizing and markedly corrective attitude exercises” aimed at “body
formation”; while the Applied Part refers to the development of physical (mobility, flexibility, agility, strength,
among others) and psychic characteristics (courage, confidence, determination, among others) (RBEF, nº77 /
78, Aug/Sept. 1950, p. 5).
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apart, one arm in lateral elevation and the other behind the back, arm swing in front of the chest
(1), lateral arm swing, trunk flexion with upper arm lift and knee flexion (3) insistence (1 -4)”.
Organized to be part of gym teacher training, these examples show us a technical language and
the presence of certain codes that required training to decipher the employed terms in the
respective activity. Not unlike the existing manuals, which, by grouping a set of lessons, guided
the practice39. The second, entitled Swedish Gymnastics: exercises on apparatus and dexterity,
was co-authored with Lélio Ribeiro40.
The authors of this exercise collection were teachers of the Latin section
of the Stockholm International course after the Second Lingiad, which
lasted from August 7 to 18 this year. (RBEF, nº 69, Dec. 1949, p. 35)
Following a different structure from the lessons already presented, the authors
organize the teaching in the following axes: Jumps; Beam exercises; Exercises two by two:
and Dexterity exercises. Each of these axes has dozens of variations, allowing the gym
teacher to combine different exercises, assembling different lessons. Therefore, unlike the
first report describing the lessons, there are groups of exercises that needed to be combined
to become lessons. Thus, a deeper knowledge of the Swedish method was required, in order
to enable to operate with theoretical references that would allow an alignment with the
pedagogical progression of the method.
These different subjects who defended Modern Swedish Gymnastics, in their various
forms of presentation, had one point in common: that the Swedish gymnastics that supported
this modern way of organizing gymnastics had their basis in Ling's gymnastics. This seems to
be a strategy of using the legitimacy that Ling’s Gymnastics acquired in different regions of the
world, aiming to continue to guarantee the expansion of its practice:
With these gym reformers over the last few decades, there are
already many far-reaching innovations in gymnastics; but Ling's
ideas are always the basis of modern working methods. (RBEF, nº
46, Jan. 1948, p. 42)
A constant concern is the discourse about the maintenance of Ling's base. Adaptation is a
widely used term when it comes to the need for the development of the method. There is a recurrent
intention to make explicit the need to safeguard the principles of Ling's gymnastics as a priori.
Applying these fundamental principles as well as many new
experiences in medical research, Swedish gymnastics has developed in
a rational and determined manner over the last decades. This has been
noted especially by the sensational development of voluntary
gymnastics in Sweden. In recent years, we can see that, in this field,
new and great perspectives for gymnastics are being opened as an
increasingly necessary factor for the current cultural progress. (RBEF,
nº 46, Jan. 1948, p. 42)
39 Some textbooks circulated in Brazil, such as Pedro Manoel Borges's Theorethical Manual of School
Gymnastics (1888), the Compendium of School Gymnastics - Brazilian Swedish-Belgian Method (1896), by Arthur
Higgins and the Practical Gymnastics Compendium - For Use by the Normal and Primary Schools (1897), by
Antonio Martiniano Ferreira (MORENO, 2015). Most of them organized with an introductory part, with a more
theoretical feature, and a practical part, featuring yet another guide to apply. 40 Lelio was Portuguese. There is evidence that he was in Sweden specializing in gym teaching. Worked with
gymnastics at the Sporting Clube de Portugal (http://www.sportingcanal.com/?p=4126). He was in Brazil in the
1970s, as one of the experts invited to discuss the National Physical Education (CUNHA, 2017).
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This Modern Swedish Gymnastics is no longer designed for a restricted audience but it
is proposed for large groups through a movement called voluntary gymnastics. New meaning
has come to characterize this voluntary, twentieth-century gymnastics: gymnastics for all,
health gymnastics and their general application. Their organization, exercises, and working
methods have been adapted to the needs of appropriate forms of recreational exercise. School
gymnasiums became recreational centers, and these centers sought to attract large audiences
twice a week, seeking recreation, joy, health and entertainment through gymnastics. According
to Holmström, the involvement of the community was such that in a city of 600,000 inhabitants,
such as Stockholm in the 1940s, there were approximately 500 voluntary gymnastics groups
meeting weekly (RBEF, No. 46, Jan. 1948).
Over the last few years we have seen in Sweden that the current
situation of living conditions with their ever-increasing specialization
and intensification of work and working conditions of individuals opens
up huge new prospects for gymnastics according to current Swedish
guidelines. (RBEF, nº 46, Jan. 1948, p. 42)
Among these new gymnastics possibilities, Holmström described sports gymnastics for
sports training; Housewives gymnastics, which is characterized as gymnastics for this audience;
gymnastics for workshop personnel, designed to meet the needs of this professional space; industrial
gymnastics, which is attended by employees of industrial factories; the family gym, which proposed
a short-time morning gym; summer gymnastics, which aimed to popularize outdoor gymnastics on
sports courts, beaches, etc. (RBEF, No. 46, Jan. 1948, p. 42. Our emphasis).
Housewife gymnastics are presented as growing in the country, and in 4 years, with few
participants, it has grown to 4,000 members in groups in different parts of Stockholm (RBEF,
No. 46, Jan. 1948, p. 42). The representativeness of this gymnastics appears in the second
Lingiad, through a demonstration of 5,000 housewives, between the ages of 20 and 72, as the
